Abstract:

This paper focused on evaluation of the wild genetic resources of Gleditsia sinensis in Shanxi Province and targeted selection of superior clones to provide theoretical support and resources for the screening and breeding of superior fruit soap pods. Based on screening superior single plants, six individual plants with better performance in phenotypic and economic traits were subjected for clone determination and regional trials, and make a final determination. Variability was abundant among clones for attributes such as pod length, pod thickness, pod width, single fruit mass, thousand-grain mass, seed yield, hull ratio, and saponin ratio. There were significant differences in the individual fruiting rate among different clones. The clone LKZG-009 yielded the earliest fruit with an average fruiting rate of 80.3%. There were significant differences in fruitfulness among different clones. The clone LKZG-004 had the highest yield of 61 fresh pods/m², which was 39.3% higher than the control treatment. Stability evaluation showed that the clone LKZG-004 was more stable, while the clone LKZG-023 was less stable. Adaptability evaluation showed that the clone LKZG-004 had strong adaptability, and the clone LKZG-023 had special adaptability. In this research, six superior clones were tested for clone determination and regional trials, and two superior clones with excellent traits were selected and could be used in production: LKZG-004 and LKZG-023.

Key words: Gleditsia sinensis, fruit, clone, breeding